Improvement in grain-binders



Y sshees-sheetl. E. CHAPMAN.

`GRAIN-BINDER Patentedv June 19, 1R77.

E. cHAPMAN.

`GRAINFBIN'DER.

' S'Sheets-Sheet 3.-'

UNITED STATES PATE T CLVIFIGE.

EDWIN CHAPMAN, OF ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO CHAPMAN BINDERCOMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN GRAIN-BINDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 192,150, dated June 19,1877; application filed February 16, 1876.

To all whom it may 'concern Be it known that I, EDWIN CHAPMAN, ofRochester, in the State of Minnesota, have invented an Improvement inBinder Attachments for Harvesters, &c., of which the following is aspecification:

My invention is adapted to the reception of the loose grain from anyharvesting-machine where the grain is sufficiently elevated to bedelivered into the machine or this binder may be employed for bindinggrain under any circumstances wherever available.

The binder attachment which I have represented in the drawings. is of acharacter especially adapted to the harvester known as the Elwardharvester.

In my machine the grain is received from any ordinary elevatingapparatus upon an inclined curved platform, and passes down the same,and is arrested by the binding-wire and compressor-fingers. An armdescends, carrying the wire with it around the bundle, the

wire is caught, the bundle compressed, the `wire twisted and out, andthen the bundle discharged, and the compressing-arm rises, .leaving theend of the wire held by a rotary jaw. During these movements the grainthat is supplied to the machine is held up out of the way by wirefingers, that are lifted as the arm rises, and the grain descends, andthe next bundle is formed. y

The special `features oi' improvement relate to a means for preventingthe wire from being broken by the sudden pull before the reel cancommence to turn g to the construction ofthe compressing andwire-carrying arm; to the means for `holding and cutting the wire; tothe fingers for holding up the grain combined with the platform and armand to the combination of the various devices and mechanisms forperforming the respective operations.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is aplan of the binder. Fig. A2 is a verticalsection of the same at the line a: w. Fig. 3 is a diagram in largersize, illustrative of the means for holding the wire and twisting thesame. Fig. 4is a detached plan of the rotary holding and cutting jaws,and Fig. 5 is a plan of the twisting-jaws.

The frame of the machine is made of the timbers a, a, that areespecially .adapted to be connected to the harvester, and the verticalposts a1 and transverse timbers a2 are framed together, and adapted toreceive the other parts of the machine.

The grain receiver or platform b is inclined and curved, substantiallyas shown in Fig. 2. It has a narrow vertical slot, b4, for the end ofthe arm carrying the binding-wire to pass through, as hereafterdescribed, andthis slot isnarrow, so that grain cannot enter thereinto.

The grain is delivered upon the upper part of this grain-receivingplatform by any suitable elevating-apron, or otherwise, and it fallsdown the same, and is arrested by the com- 1pressor-iingers c andbinding-wire 11, that occupies nearly a vertical position while thegrain is being received.

The fingers c are upon the cross-shaft c1, that has a crank-arm, 2, andlink 3 to the crank d1 upon the cross rock-shaft c4, having upon it thewire-carrier arm c, also the spring-volutes of the wire-fingers c6.

rIhese wire fingers c6 are connected by a cross-bar, e', withsuspending-straps 5, to the cross-head bar a5. v

The crank-arm d2 has a connecting-rod, d3, to the crank d6, that isrevolved periodically, a half revolution being given, then a pause, thenthe next half-revolution more rapidly, and then another pause, and soon. To etfect these movements, differential stop-motion gear-wheels areused similar to those in my Patent No. 123,237, the gear-wheel upon theshaft Z7 of the crank d6 having a larger segment, g, of teeth, and asmaller segment, g, of teeth, with intermediate blank spaces, and theteeth Vot'V g are driven by the segment I L upon the larger wheel, andthe teeth of g by the segment h. There are intermediate portions of thewheel h, h', that are plain,so that the pauses in the movement ofthecrank d6 occur at the times when the plain portions are passing thespaces between the` teeth segments g gf. i

I remark that the power to drive the wheel h h may be derived from anysuitable source. I have shown for this purpose the bevel-wheel k andpinion k. The pinion lf. is upon` the end of the shaft l, and -it isconfined in place by a collar and nut, 15, and turns by the frictionalcontact, the object being to allow the pinion to slip if there is anyobstruction tothe movement of the other parts, so as to prevent injury.

Upon this shaft l is the chain-wheel l', from which a chain passes tothe bull-wheel of the harvester, and this wheel Z may be fitted as aclutchwheel and moved endwise upon a shaft,

so that the mechanism is set in motion at the proper intervals to-suitthe supply of grain to form a sheaf or bundle. The wire is upon the reelor spool m, (shown sectionally in Fig. 2,) and this spool is centered bythe cones 17 upon the vertical stud 18. These cones are provided withdisks ai, having grooves in their surfaces in contact withfriction-plates n, and a spring, n', and nut 19 serve to regulate thefriction applied to the spool. The annular grooves in thefriction-plates retain the lubricating material, and render the frictionmore uniform than that derived from fiat or conical disks.

The wire from the spool m passes over the grooved wheel 2() upon thevertically-sliding bar 21, that has a spring, 22, which yields to asudden pull upon the wire, and prevents the wire from being brokenbefore the inertia of the spool or reelcan be overcome.

The Wiret passes through the end of the arm e, and down to the holdingdevice, hereinafter described. The end of the arm e is made of two thinsteel plates, terminating in a point, so as to require but a narrow slotin the grain-receiving platform, and there is a small grooved roller inthe point to lessen friction upon the wire.

The operation of the parts thus far described is as follows: As thegrain slides down the platform or receiver it stops against the wire z',and when the binding mechanism moves, the fingers cmove up against thelower side ofthe grain as the binding-arm e descends, and the grain ispressed between them. At the same time the movement of the arm carriesthe wire around the bundle into the position shown in the diagram, Fig.3, ready to be twisted by the means hereinafter described.

As the movement of the rock-shaft c1 brings the arm e down, it lowersthe fingers c6, and their ends rest upon the platform b, or else theyare suspended by the straps 5 from the head-beam a5, and the ends ofthese lingers arrest the further passage of the grain down 4the platformuntil the reverse movement raises the arm e again, and by the cross-bare lifts these wire fingers of the way.

These fingers are' each preferably twisted to form a spring-eye aroundthe rock-shaft c4, and the end inserted into such rock-shaft. Hence thefingers form springs that aid in sustaining the weight of the arm e asit is moved down below them and then raised again; but such fingers maybe loose at the rockshaft, and not made as springs, if so desired.

[n order to guide the grain as it falls down the inclined receiver, andplace the grain in position for the wire band to come at the rightplace, I make use of the guide-boards p p, that are hinged at 25, andconnected by the links 26 and 27 to the lever q, that is upon a verticalshaft, 28, and provided with a lever, q', at thel upper end, having alatch to take holes or teeth in the segment 36. By moving this lever qthe guide-boardsp will be brought nearer together or moved fartherapart, as the length of the straw may require.

Beneath' the platform, at the place where the wire is twisted, there isa revolving wheel and holding-jaw, o, substantially similar to that setforth in my Patent No. 126,520, and the clamp-operating slide 0 is alsosimilar.

The revolving wheel and jaw o are moved at the proper time by abevel-Wheel, 32, on the shaft 1^, that is provided with a pinion, r',driven by a wheel, s, that receives its motion from theA pinion 36, thatis operated upon by a segment of teeth upon the wheel h, and turned onceby that segment, and then held during the remainder of the revolution ofthe wheel h. This produces several turns'of the twisting-wheel o, and inorder to operate the clamp o of the wire-twisting jaw, I use thecrank-arm 38, that acts in a slot in said clamp o', and this crank-armis upon a short vertical shaft, 39, that is rocked by a link, 40, to thelever 41, that receives its motion from the cam t upon the wheel h h.

Beneath the revolving twisting-Wheel o are the revolving jaws and knivestt, that are geared together at their lower ends and moved aroundprogressively by a pawl, t2, and arm on the shaft 39. are made aspolygonal plates, those on one of the vertical studs coming opposite thespaces between the plates on the other, and the upper pair of theseplates act as cutters and the lower ones as holding-jaws.

There are hooked angles to the polygona plates of one of the jaws, asshown more clearly in Fig. 6, so as to catch the wire and carry it intothe jaws.

The parts are so timed that after the Wire t' has been brought down bythe arm e into the twisting-wheel o and laid between the two jaws t, asillustrated in Fig. 3, the link 40 is moved to clamp the Wires in therevolving wheel, and the jaws t are simultaneously turned to seize thewire between the polygonal edges, and the upper pair of plates cut offsuch wire, leaving the twisting-wheel to act in twisting the wiretogether as suchwheel is revolved.

Upon the bed contiguous to the revolving twisting-wheel is a slottedtongue or fork, w, and in the wire carrier there is a hinged tongue, 50,that has a roller near the end. This is kept within the plates at theend of the arm e by a spring, so as to pass freely through the grainwith the wire, but this tongue 50 runs over the fork w as thewirecarrier completes (See Fig. 4.) These jaws its downward movement andforces the wire home into the revolving twisting-wheel.

A roller at 511essens friction upon the wire, and at y there are springsprojecting from the surface of the platform, which springs are drawndown in twisting the wire, but when the wire is liberated from thetwister by drawing back the clamping-plate o these springs draw the wireout from' the twisting-wheel, and cause the delivery of, the bundle,

There are vertical posts 69 at the angles of the machine, and aroundthese there isa canvas curtain tightly secured, as at b1, (see Fig. 2,)so as to keep wind from blowing the grain away from its position in thebinder.

I do not claim an arm passing through the slotted platform and carryingthe wire. In machines that have been made the slot is necessarily wide,and the grain falls through and becomes clogged in the mechanism.

I claim as my invention- 1. The wire-carrier arm e, made with a metalplate at the end thereof passing edgewise through the narrow slot b4 ofthe grain-receiving-platform b, in combination with the hinged tongue50, fork w, twisting-wheel o, rock-shaft c4, and actuating mechanism,substantially as set forth.

2. rlhe combination, with the wire-carrier arm and its rock-shaft, ofthe stopmotion wheel g g,'crank d6, connecting-rod d3, and arm dz uponthe rock-shaft o4, substantially as specified.

3. The fingers c6 upon the rock-shaft c, and connected' by the cross-barel, in combination with the wire-carrier arm e, substantially as setforth. j

4. The friction plates n, with grooves in their surfaces, and the cones17 for centering the spool or reel of wire, in combination with thespring and frictional adjusting-screw 18, as specied.

5. The sliding rod 21, sheave 20, and spring 22, in combinationwith thewire-holding spool m and wire-carrying arm e, for the purposes and asset forth.

6. The frictional pinion kupon the drivingshaft l and the chain-wheell', in combination with the stop-motion wheels and binding mechanism,substantially as set forth.

7. The combination, with the grain-receiver b, of the hinged side boardsp and adjusting mechanism, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

8. The combination, with the twisting mechanism, of the springs y uponthe surface of the platform, for the purposes set forth.

9. The polygonal holding and cutting jaws t, constructed of steelplates, and operating substantially as set forth.

10. The combination, with the polygonal holding and cutting jaws t, ofthe revolving twisting-wheel o and its clamp o', substantially as setforth.

11. The rock shaft 39 and its actuating mechanism, in combination withthe revolving holdingjaws t, the twisting-wheel, and the clamping-plateo, substantially as specified.

12. The combination, with the grain-binding mechanism, of the inclinedplatform or receiver and a canvas or equivalent inclosure, bw, forprotecting the grain from Wind, as set forth.

Signed by me this 20th day of January, A. D. 1876.'

EDWIN CHAPMAN.

Witnesses: C. H. BLISS,

T. H. MOCONNELL.

